Just over a year after the debut of the World Wide Web, Donald Atwood, then-deputy secretary of defense, detailed a high-level information warfare strategy in a Dec. 21, 1992 directive.

The once-SECRET directive posted on the Defense Department Freedom of Information Act reading room website said U.S. Armed Forces should be “organized, trained, equipped and supported in such a manner as to be able to achieve a distinct information advantage over potential adversaries in order to win quickly, decisively and with minimum losses and collateral effects.”

The memo called for development of offensive designed to exploit enemy systems and “to corrupt those systems . . . whenever practical and cost effective.”

As far as I can figure out, this is the first Pentagon info-war memo, and it focused DOD from the start on attack rather than defense.

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Bob Brewin joined Government Executive in April 2007, bringing with him more than 20 years of experience as a journalist focusing on defense issues and technology. Bob covers the world of defense and information technology for Nextgov, and is the author of the “What’s Brewin” blog.

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